


nobody else but you

by horizonyunho



Series: triwizard nct [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Hogwarts Sixth Year, M/M, Yule Ball (Harry Potter), gryffindor winwin, slytherin yuta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-07-30
Packaged: 2020-07-26 00:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20035009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/horizonyunho/pseuds/horizonyunho
Summary: “You said it would be okay,” Yuta whispered, glancing around the corner to check on the gamekeeper.  “You didn’t mention that the gamekeeper was a werewolf!”Slytherins and Gryffindors were certainly not meant to be going to the Yule Ball together.





	nobody else but you

**Author's Note:**

> couldn't get this out of my head honestly

“You said it would be okay,” Yuta whispered, glancing around the corner to check on the gamekeeper. “You didn’t mention that the gamekeeper was a werewolf!”

“Forgot it was full moon,” Sicheng responded dryly. It wasn’t quite the truth, but it sufficed. He’d sneaked off to Hogsmeade plenty of times before, enough that those in charge of the shops knew him by name. Besides, there had always been rumors about the mousy gamekeeper, and where he spent his time; the two prevailing theories had been that the gamekeeper was either an Animagus or a werewolf. Sicheng had found out that it was the latter, the hard way — one long sprint away from Hogsmeade to the castle and 230 points taken from Gryffindor later, that was. But he wasn’t about to let Yuta know that; it was bad enough that Jaehyun owned footage of Sicheng running around the castle grounds with a werewolf chasing him. He didn’t need to potentially embarrass himself more.

“I can’t afford to lose more points,” Yuta added, backing away before he was spotted. “I’m aiming for Head Boy next year; all I need is Professor Shin’s approval, but I’m on thin ice with her due to all the points I’ve lost Slytherin.”

“We’ll be fine,” Sicheng assured, quietly using a Summoning charm to summon his dorm mate’s invisibility cloak. It took a moment, due to the fact that the Gryffindor dorms were probably the most distant from where they stood, but the shimmery cloak eventually made its way to them. Once it did, Sicheng handed it to Yuta. “Just take this, you’ll need it.”

Yuta wrapped himself in the cloak, immediately disappearing. “See you in Potions, I guess?”

-

The news of the Yule Ball caught Yuta off guard.

Even many of the Slytherins that had proclaimed themselves as “proudly single” had paired up with their dates; Yuta didn’t judge them for it, but he did wish that at least someone would have mentioned it before. It was already bad enough that he had taken a gap year of sorts the year before, so many of his acquaintances and friends were now in their seventh year. To his knowledge, Doyoung was the only other Slytherin that had yet to find a date; however, Doyoung had already made an arrangement with Yujin to go as friends if neither could find a date, since they were Head Boy and Head Girl.

It was now that Yuta was hoping that one of the admirers he had seemingly accumulated out of nowhere would approach him, as they always would whenever he was in Potions class or in Care of Magical Creatures. But even then, there was no one to be found. It seemed that many of his admirers were going with Beauxbatons students, which struck Yuta as vaguely ironic after he had openly criticized the Beauxbatons representative. 

An idea occurred to him as he searched around his dorm for some an old gobstones set that he had hidden away from some of the younger Slytherin students at the beginning of the year — Yuta didn’t like gobstones, but he wasn’t about to give away his only good set to a group of younger students that would surely use the set to attack the Gryffindors —but instead, he happened to find a familiar shimmery cloak. His suspicions were only confirmed as he picked it up and draped it on his arm, rendering it invisible. 

Soon after that, Yuta made his way towards the Gryffindor Tower, hoping that he would at least see Sicheng there. He wasn’t sure what he would do if Sicheng wasn’t there; the portrait of the Fat Lady would surely refuse to allow him entry into the Gryffindor Tower, and Yuta didn’t know many other Gryffindors that could give him the password into the Common Room. Sure, he knew Jaehyun, but they had only communicated during Arithmancy, and even that was when either had a question or a concern about the classwork or for gossip.

Gryffindors were intimidating.

After arriving at the portrait of the Fat Lady, Yuta settled to the side, using the invisibility cloak to his advantage by draping it over himself while he waited. Ultimately, Yuta ended up backing out at the last possible second, choosing to scurry away as Sicheng and one of his dorm mates made their way over to the entrance of the Gryffindor Common Room. After all, Sicheng was easily one of the most admired and respected students in the school, his charm surpassing inter-House tensions. If Yuta wanted to win over the attention of one of the most sought Gryffindors, he would have to leave his mark.

-

_ The way to a Gryffindor’s heart is easy, for their deepest desires lay in their absolute ability to— _

“How to Romance a Gryffindor, Edition Seven?’ Doyoung questioned, ripping the book out of Yuta’s grasp in one simple swipe.

“I’m desperate,” Yuta insisted, reclaiming the book he had been reading, before stowing it away in the bag that he had used to carry his belongings to the library. “I’m trying to, in your words, get my love life together; because, right now,  _ it’s so pathetic that the Beauxbatons boy might mistake it as his mixtape. _ ”

“I didn’t know you liked Sicheng, though,” Doyoung said, sitting on Yuta’s bed next to him. As Head Boy, Doyoung had his own dorm, but for some reason, it seemed that he preferred Yuta’s dorm, instead. Yuta was almost certain that the former spent more time in Yuta’s room than Yuta himself did, especially when taking into account that his bedsheets always seemed messy. “But then again, you do have a pretty obvious type.”

“What?”

“Cute boys that could land you in St Mungos for a year, with one hex and maybe a jinx,” Doyoung teased, suddenly getting up and making his way towards the door, causing Yuta to sigh in relief. “I have Head Boy duties to get to, but don’t get to smug. I’ll be back.”

Once Yuta was sure that Doyoung was gone for good — it definitely wouldn’t have been the first time that Doyoung pretended to leave, only to stay in Yuta’s dorm for a few more hours — he threw himself onto his bed, thinking. Sicheng was easily one of the most powerful students in their year; he was hard-working and caring. Furthermore, Sicheng was one of the only students that didn’t alienate Yuta over the fact that he had missed a year of schooling due to family matters; rather than condemn him or treat him with fragility, Sicheng often helped him sneak out, and they occasionally bantered in Potions whenever Sicheng’s potion ingredients decided to coalesce into a slimy blob.

Maybe he didn’t quite like Sicheng yet, but it would surely come with time.

-

The day of the Yule Ball inched closer, and Sicheng had yet to find a date. It had nothing to do with his perceived uptight attitude; many of the Gryffindors, and students of other Houses, could testify that the uptight attitude that had been attributed to him was simply the result of his shyness — rather than being the product of an over-exaggerated sense of superiority, as many thought. He simply hadn’t been asked out. After all, he was the only one in his social group that wasn’t already dating someone, or that didn’t have a crush on someone else in their House. By default, he was left alone. 

“Can you stop flirting with Johnny via owl, and help me?” Sicheng asked Jaehyun, poking his dorm mate with a book that he’d been carrying around, in hopes that his attempts at understanding his Alchemy homework would go better than his attempts at getting a date to the Yule Ball. However, a beautiful Eastern Screech Owl stole the Gryffindors’ attention as it dropped a pristine, fancy envelope in Sicheng’s lap.

Everyone in the Great Hall seemingly held their breath as Sicheng carefully opened the envelope, finding an invitation to the Yule Ball from the Beauxbatons Champion himself.

-

Doyoung ate his apple in amusement, sitting on the edge of Yuta’s bed as he waited for the latter to finish up his Arithmancy homework, so that they could go buy their robes for the Yule Ball at Hogsmeade. Yuta had always had the habit of mumbling to himself in a mix of standard Japanese and Kansai dialect; Doyoung had spent enough time with him enough to understand certain words or phrases that Yuta used, which often ranged between self-encouragement to frustratedly condemning whoever had invented whatever Arithmancy concept he was struggling with. Today, though, Yuta’s dialogue was full of the phrase, “stupid half-Veela boys,” followed by whatever complaint he was centering on. 

“Stupid half-Veela boys, with their stupid magnificient owls and their stupid charm,” Yuta grumbled, pausing to dip his quill into the ink he had stolen from the Common Room table.

“To be fair, you’ve always flirted with the students you like — and you’ve had  _ a lot  _ of crushes during your time at Hogwarts, just saying — but you’ve literally never made a move on Sicheng,” Doyoung countered. With a flourish, Yuta concluded his assignment, beginning to put his belongings away. Doyoung got up, continuing, “Think of it this way, Sicheng didn’t accept his invite yet, so you still have a chance.”

_ “Yet.” _

With the latest surge of Yule Ball proposals, the robe shop was full of students determined to find their perfect set to take to the ball. Yuta squeezed himself past a gaggle of giggling Gryffindors, making his way towards the back of the shop. He wasn’t sure what kind of look to go for; there were so many styles, colors, and fabrics available. Sensing someone behind him, Yuta stepped forward as much as he could without knocking over the gigantic color wheel next to him, hoping that the person was able to pass by without too many issues. 

“Hello to you, too, Nakamoto,” Sicheng joked, stepping away from the grand display of vermillion-colored robes to face Yuta. He was glad for the din in the shop; it was easier for him to talk to Yuta. If he were to mess up, he could always claim that Yuta had misheard him. “Nice to see a familiar face in the midst of the crowd.”

“I heard you got… I heard that you got asked out by the Beauxbatons Champion and one of the smartest Durmstrang students,” Yuta replied, squatting down to look closer at display of green robe shades. Sicheng would’ve teased Yuta for getting green dress robes as a Slytherin, but then he remembered the wine-colored robes that had caught his eye. But what caught Sicheng’s attention the most was the slight halt in Yuta’s voice, as he mentioned Sicheng’s two would-be suitors.

In all the months that Sicheng had wistfully looked over at Yuta, it had never occurred to him that maybe Yuta had been watching him, too.

“I turned them both down,” Sicheng finally said, watching for a reaction. “And well, I’d really like it if you attended the ball with me.”

“I—”

“He’d love to go with you,” Doyoung interrupted, setting his hands on Yuta’s shoulders from where he stood, a bit behind Yuta. Before the younger Slytherin could object, Doyoung added, “he’ll see be picking you up at your Common Room, aren’t you, Yuta?”

“Sure.”

“I’ll be waiting, in that case,” Sicheng joked. Once he’d gotten his robes, he made his way towards the castle. Excitement ran through him as he made his way through the fairly empty halls; mostly everyone was at Hogsmeade, or burrowed away in their respective Common Rooms — a stark contrast from its usual crowding, which occasionally made Sicheng late. 

The bag hit his legs lightly with every step of his run. Seeing his excitement from afar, the Fat Lady allowed him to step into the Gryffindor Common Room without the password. It wasn’t until he reached his dorm — for once, Jaehyun, Johnny, and Taeyong were all present in the dorm at once — that Sicheng set down the bag containing his dress robes, carefully setting it aside so that they wouldn’t be too wrinkled. 

Taeyong was the first one to spot him. “Someone’s happy.”

“I’d be happy if two of the smartest kids from the other wizarding schools invited me to the ball,” Jaehyun commented, prompting Johnny to nearly choke on the butterbeer that he had grabbed from the stash that Sicheng kept. The owner of the Three Broomsticks adored him, and therefore let him sneak bottles into the castle. However, Sicheng rarely, if ever, truly got the chance to drink the Butterbeer he snuck into the castle; even though his dorm mates barely, if ever, showed up in the dorm at the same time, they always found the way to drink his butterbeer.

“Yuta invited me.”

The others pestered him for details, and Sicheng obliged, excitedly recounting the events of the robe shop.

“I really hope you have a good time,” Johnny commented. “You deserve it.”

The last few days leading up the ball gave way to a few more flirtatious advances from both Yuta and Sicheng alike; they’d won a vial of Felix Felicis in Potions due to their excellent teamwork, and Yuta often liked to Transfigure the objects they were given into roses for Sicheng. However, since he was not allowed to give them to the Gryffindor, Yuta always made sure to compensate in other ways. But it didn’t stop Sicheng from fidgeting nervously on the day of the Yule Ball, shortly before Yuta was supposed to pick him up.

His nerves heightened every time the portrait of the Fat Lady swung and gave way for a visitor, turning around only to see fellow Gryffindors entering or leaving.The Yule Ball was off limits for those below fourth year, so many of the younger students were either planning on staying in to study, or sneaking out.

_ “—Merlin’s sake, for the last time, I’m not here to sabotage the Gryffindor Quidditch team. I— Yes, I am part of the team, as a Chaser, but that’s not—” _

Sicheng ran to the opening. “Yuta, you’re here!”

Still somewhat annoyed by his encounter with the Gryffindor painting — as they walked away, Sicheng turned back, managing to catch the portrait sending death glares at Yuta — Yuta allowed himself to be directed to the Great Hall by Sicheng. It was still fairly early, but they managed to catch the eye of many passerby due to the deep colors of their robes, which represented their respective Houses.

“I don’t think the Gryffindors like that I stole their darling.”

“They think you’re a big, bad Slytherin, coming to steal me away,” Sicheng joked, leading them both to the side; not many students had arrived, since there was a planned grand entrance for the Champions, which seemed to have ticked off quite a few of the students. But the ball was still charming — quaint. 

Yuta reached over to get one of the miniature snack plates, handing it to Sicheng. “If only they knew you were the one that nearly got us attacked by a werewolf with an attitude. Is that how you filter your suitors, making them facing possible death?”

“Maybe,” Sicheng said. He considered himself something of a realist, but so many possibilities seemed open to him. However, one particular idea stuck by him.  _ “Hey Yuta, what if I beat you to Head Boy? _


End file.
